Community-Based Agritourism and Rural Business Development (Study Area: Rural Areas of Tonekabon Township)

In recent decades, agritourism has been recognized as a type of agricultural investment and primarily a diversification strategy to increase the economic value of agricultural businesses. This can impact the livelihoods of rural residents and improve the local economy. Accordingly, the purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between community-based agritourism and rural business development. The study area is the rural regions of Tonekabon Township, which annually attracts a large number of incoming tourists. Given the high capacities of agritourism in this area, such as rice fields, citrus and tea gardens, ornamental flower and plant cultivation, fish ponds, and so on, it can be considered one of the sites suitable for developing agritourism. The research method is descriptive-analytical. The statistical population consists of farmers living in the rural areas of Tonekabon Township. Required data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS statistical software. According to the types of variables and research indicators, different tests including mean tests, one-sample T-test, and correlation tests were employed. The findings indicate that the creation and development of community-based agritourism (CBAT) activities have a direct and significant relationship with the development of rural businesses.



 
Extended Abstract
Introduction
In recent years, agricultural producers have engaged in tourism-related activities, opening their farms to guests seeking entertainment and educational activities. This type of tourism is known as agritourism. Agritourism has been defined from the outset as a type of agricultural investment and mainly as a diversification strategy to increase the economic value of agricultural businesses. In this regard, visitors directly increase agricultural income and profit (for example, through ticket sales), which is very important for small and medium-sized farmers in preserving their land and transferring it to the next generation. This type of tourism, through income diversification and increased economic profit resulting from the combination of agricultural and tourism activities, can affect the livelihood of rural residents and improve the local economy. The rural areas of Tonekabon Township, due to the large number of annual tourists and having high agritourism potentials (such as tea, citrus, and kiwi orchards, rice paddies, flowers and ornamental plants, etc.), can be considered as one of the sites for creating and developing agritourism activities. However, in this context, the participation and support of the local community, as one of the main actors in these activities, is very important. Accordingly, the aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between local community participation and support for creating and operationalizing agritourism activities and the development of rural businesses in the studied areas.
 
Method
The research method is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in nature. The required information was collected using library and field methods and through a questionnaire instrument. To design the research instrument, first, articles published in reputable scientific databases were analyzed, and after extracting the main components and the output of interviews with local experts, the indicators related to the research topic were operationalized. These were then arranged in the form of a researcher-made questionnaire and provided to the sample population. The statistical population of the research consists of farmers living in the rural areas of Tonekabon Township. The calculated sample size was 402 people. The variables used in the study include Community-Based Agritourism (CBAT) with indicators such as participation, monitoring of managers' performance, environmental awareness, etc., and the rural business variable with indicators such as tourism income, diversity of farm activities, awareness of target markets, etc. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software. Also, based on the research objective and for data analysis and inference, depending on the type of data and the scale of the variables, descriptive statistical methods such as the mean of responses and statistical analysis methods such as correlation and regression were used.
 
Results
The results of the demographic characteristics of the respondents show that 53.5% of the studied individuals are male and 46.5% are female. In terms of marital status, most respondents are married (90.8%) and only 9.2% are single. Regarding the level of education, the largest share belongs to individuals with a bachelor's degree (51.2%). After that, individuals with a diploma (21.6%) and individuals with postgraduate education (master's and above) (13.7%) are placed. Also, 7.7% of the respondents have education at the middle school level and 5.7% are illiterate. The average age of the respondents was 45.42 years, which indicates that the studied population mainly consists of middle-aged individuals who play an active role in rural agricultural and economic activities. The calculated findings regarding the community-based agritourism variable show that the mean of all items is higher than the median of the average responses, indicating the high capacity of agritourism in the rural areas of the studied region. According to the opinions of the respondents (the local community), their willingness, participation, and support for the creation and development of this type of tourism are high. Also, regarding the rural business variable, the calculated means for all items show a value higher than the median of the average responses, indicating the favorable status of all items related to the agritourism business in the villages of Tonekabon Township. The results of the one-sample t-test for both variables were calculated to be higher than the median of the average responses and are significant at the 99% level, indicating the favorable status of rural businesses and the support of the local community for these businesses, which is formed as a result of the creation and development of agritourism in rural areas. The results obtained from the Pearson correlation test also show that the two variables have a direct and significant relationship at the 99% level. The greater the growth and development of agritourism activities with ownership and for the benefit of the local community, the more growth and ultimately development will follow in the rural businesses related to these activities.
 
Conclusion
The present study investigated the relationship between community-based agritourism and rural businesses. The mean scores obtained from the respondents' opinions for both variables—which are higher than the median of the responses—indicate the favorable condition of community-based agritourism, which shows the high capacity of the studied region for creating and developing these activities, as well as the support and willingness of the local community to participate in this type of tourism. According to the conducted studies, the results obtained in this research are consistent with other studies. For example, the item "To what extent do you sell your local products?" with a mean of 4.10 indicates that this finding is consistent with the study by Vidayati et al. (2024), which, in the context of community-based agritourism, examined local community perspectives on creating a medicinal plant garden as a means to promote agritourism with the goal of achieving long-term sustainability, economic benefits, and other positive outcomes. Likewise, the calculated means regarding the current state of rural businesses dependent on agricultural and tourism activities in these areas, given the value obtained from the Pearson correlation test (0.781), show a direct and significant relationship between these two variables. This finding aligns with the study by Mora and his colleague (2018), who believe that exploiting the capacity of rural areas is the key to improving rural businesses.